The Secret Life of Pets - Another Illumination Production "Masterpiece"

I have been waiting to see this movie for some time as after watching the trailers so many times, it really made me excited as it seemed very funny. The idea of what pets were doing when the owners left them at home seemed genuinely interesting. It had played in the theater since last Wednesday but as I was not in Jakarta then and had no time to watch it together with my wife until yesterday, we managed to buy the tickets and had another one of our movie marathon after watching Detective Conan: The Darkest Nightmare. So let's get on to the story, shall we?

Brief Story Line

This movie started with the narration by our main character, a dog named Max (Louis C.K - US comedian) who was so happy to be found as a pet since he was a puppy by Katie (Ellie Kemper - 21 Jumpstreet, The Office tv series etc). It was an unconditional love from a dog to its owner and vice versa. However, Max' life soon changed when one night Katie brought home another dog which was very huge compared to Max. The dog's name was Duke (Eric Stonestreet - Modern Family TV series) who was taken from the shelter for wild animals. It did not take long before Duke started to dominate Max and took over his nice bed and even his food.

Max who was very upset with this situation sought the advice of his friend Chloe (Lake Bell - What Happens in Vegas, It's Complicated etc) a fat cat who loved to eat. She informed Max to become the alpha dog. Once Max got this advice, he was able to make Duke follow his instruction. That day, when some dogs in the neighborhood were brought to the park for playing, Duke tricked Max to an alley far from the park where he intended to leave Max there. But they got bullied by Ozone (Steve Coogan - Night at the Museum trilogy etc), the wild cat who led a bunch of other wild cats and took Max and Duke's collars. Without them, Max and Duke looked like some wild animals and they were captured by Animal Control officer.

While they were taken to the shelter, the car was "hijacked" by a bunch of wild animals led by Snowball the rabbit (Kevin Hart - Ride Along, Central Intelligence etc). Max and Duke requested Snowball to release them and pretending to be wild animals who despise human just like Snowball. Meanwhile Gidget (Jenny Slate - Zootopia etc) who had a crush on Max realized that he was missing. So she requested the help from Tiberius the hawk (Albert Brooks - Nemo's father in Finding Nemo and Finding Dory) to look for him. When it was found out that Max and Duke were captured by Animal Controls, Gidget enlisted the help from Max's friends Mel, Buddy, Sweetpea, and Chloe. With the assistance from Pops who knew the way into the city and including Tiberius, all of them embarked on an adventure to save Max and Duke.

So can all of these pets found their way to help Max & Duke through the wild city of New York? Can Max and Duke escape from the wild animals led by Snowball? Can they return to their home? Find all the answers in this hilarious fun adventure 3D animated movie.

End of Brief Story Line

I totally enjoyed this movie a lot. It was one of the best animated movie that I have watched in the past few years. My wife and I and the rest of movie audience had tons of laughs watching this one. There were so many hilarious moments in this film. It also had few touching moments as well. When my wife said she was hoping for laughter, this one really did not disappoint us.

In addition, the animals characters here were so cute and adorable. I salute the makers of this movie as this was a truly original film and a lot of people can really relate to the story. The animation also was very good and colorful and I believe it is suitable for children to see also (even though in few scenes they seemed to be a little bit crazy, particularly those involving cars). But overall it would give the children something fun to watch and laugh at. 

For those who have a habit of coming only when the film start or even later, maybe you can come earlier now since there was a short movie about those cute minions which would be a total loss if you missed it. Anyway, this one is totally recommended movie as you would have lots of fun watching it.

Happy watching!

Mike's movie moments rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Detective Conan: The Darkest Nightmare

This would be the first time I ever watched a Detective Conan movie in theaters. Previously I only watched in TV or in DVD while I have read the comic books (but only the first 50 or so). I think it's now already > 100 comics. Anyway, this movie did not play in all cinema chains in Indonesia. So my wife (who was also a big fan of Detective Conan) wanted to see it this week as there might be possibility the movie no longer play in cinemas next week. Yesterday, evening we went to the theater and saw this one at 5.45 PM. Since the movie was having some deductions and mysteries which would be best kept secret for people to find out, I would be providing a very brief story line. If you are still worried there is spoiler, then this part can be skipped.

Brief Story Line

Movie started with the scene where a lady was trying to steal some information in a confined room. She was found out by the securities and were chased over by them. Rei Furuya was trying to capture the lady and got into a fight where her contact lense on her left eye fell out revealing 2 different eye colors. The lady got away through a stolen car but she was chased by Furuya. The car chase was happening through the congested streets at night. Before a huge accident about to happen, Shuici Akai shot the wheel of her car resulting it to crash into the ocean. Furuya was upset of Akai for taking the car down and he ran away before police caught up with them.

Following day, Conan, Haibara, Professor Agasa, Ayumi, Mitsuhimo and of course Genta were going to see a new ferris wheel opened in a themed park. When they reached there, Conan and Haibara noticed a woman who was confused all by herself. She had different eye colors and she appeared to have amnesia as she could not even remember her own name. The only clue was her smartphone which was damaged through a car accident. When she was told that police would be involved to help, she got scared and disagree to have her picture taken, raising further suspicion with Conan. The young children offered their help to remember who she was. Conan forwarded her picture to Ran and also to Inspector Megure for their help to find out her identity.

After an incident in the ferris wheel, it appeared that this lady was no ordinary person. A woman who later on we found out as Vermouth from the Black organization recognized her, but the lady did not know her. So Vermouth informed her superior Gin about this condition. Meanwhile Haibara seemed to remember her from her days in the Black organization and warned Conan to be careful and especially for the other kids to avoid being close to her.

To avoid exposing too much information, I would stop the story line here as the story would slowly unravel what the lady's mission was and what her connection was with the Black organization. Could Conan as usual save the day and to save her friends plus stopping the major crime? You can see them all in this fun exciting surprisingly full action movie.

End of Brief Story Line

Well this movie was a bit different than I anticipated. I was accustomed to watching Conan's super deductive ability in the series and also from the books. This movie did not show that too much since it was not the usual murder case where you have to find the murderer and especially how the murder was committed. This time, the movie was focusing more on the Black organization (the organization responsible for shrinking Sinichi Kudo into small boy who named himself Edogawa Conan and Sherry into Haibara). Also it focused on the competition between the local Japanese intelligence with FBI.

However, the rest of the usual Conan classic was still there, like the use of soccer ball by Conan to defeat the bad guys, the fun characters of Ran's father Kogoro and her best friend Sonoko. Plus Inspector Takagi who were good friends with the kids. We could also have a good laughs especially when involving those kids (Genta particularly) and also Professor Agasa. Love those cute characters. 

For those who love Detective Conan, I think this movie has it all. I do not think this movie is suitable for people who do not read the comics or ever watched the TV series, since it would be too huge information to swallow. They did try to cover the whole Conan's background and Black organization plus the special agents in few minutes in the early part of the movie. But even I still found them too fast and I could imagine people will be scratching their heads if they do not know the stories before.

Anyway, the movie was indeed fun to watch. The action sequence especially in the last major finale were quite tensed and it was also having a great ending. If you intend to watch this movie, please do not leave your seats till the very end as it has a post credit scene which would provide a satisfying and touching conclusion.

Mike's movie moments rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Time Raiders - A New Treasure Hunting & Expedition Movie

I was intrigued in finding out what this movie all about when seeing the poster in 2 cinema chains. So I looked it up in the website and noticed that it was a new movie played in China and was quite successful there. The premise was about tomb raiders so it could be fun. On Saturday when my wife was having another 1 of those free night staying in hotel (but unfortunately for me spouse not allowed), I decided to watch 2 movies in a row. The first one was Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV which I reviewed in earlier post. 

Brief Story Line

Movie started in a location somewhere in icy hilly mountain in China where a Western guy, Mr. Hendricks was threatening an elderly to inform the location of the last piece of 24 pieces which would reveal the secret to immortality. While Mr. Hendricks' mercenaries were guarding the mountain tribe people, one person seemed to be very calm compared to the others. That person who we later would find out to be Zhang Qilin (Jing Bo Ran - Monster Hunt, China's highest grossing movie in 2015) fought off the mercenaries and managed to free the elderly and the others. He was informed by the elderly where this last piece was located. Before he left, Mr. Hendricks who was wounded in the hand after trying to shoot the elderly saw Qilin's face and questioned who he was.

Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV - A Cool Introduction to the Latest Part of the Famous Japanese Video Game

I got to know about this movie from the twitters of 2 cinema chains in Indonesia promoting it and showing a glimpse of the trailer. I am actually a fan of Final Fantasy games due to their usually high detailed graphic action fighting scenes. So I was interested to see the full story of this film which apparently was just released in Japan in July. This movie was supposed to be having the story line in parallel with the video game Final Fantasy XV which would be only officially released in video game platforms in November 2016. The movie would serve as a good introduction to the game.

Brief Story Line

Movie started with some few minutes of background story narrated by Lunafreya (voiced by Lena Headey - 300, Pride Prejudice & Zombies, Game of Thrones TV series, etc) telling us about the clash between two kingdoms Niflheim and Lucis where King Regis (voiced by Sean Bean - The Lord of The Rings trilogy, Game of Thrones TV series etc) and his young son Noctis were taking refuge in Tenebrae after Lucis was attacked. However, Niflheim soldiers led by General Glauca found out and attacked Tenebrae. During this attack, the queen was killed and Regis were able to escape with Noctis but Lunafreya, the queen's daughter decided to stay and accompany her brother Ravus.

Twelve years later, King Regis who had the power from a magical ring had assembled an army of soldiers who were able to do teleportation and were very skillful in war. The army was called Kingsglaive and led by Drautos. One of the kingsglaive, Nyx (voiced by Aaron Paul - Need For Speed etc) was very good in attacking the enemy soldiers. He had a close friend Libertus and Crowe who was like a sister to Libertus. The armies were recruited by Regis from the immigrants outside the city Insomnia. This city was protected by impenetrable barrier called "the walls" which were linked to crystal formed by the magical ring in Regis' hand.

The last attack from Niflheim with their army of monsters called Daemon were apparently too much to handle even by Kingsglaives. Niflheim through their chancellor named Izunia sent a message to King Regis to sign a peace treaty between Lucis kingdom and Niflheim. The treaty would allow Insomnia city to remain within King Regis' power but the rest of the cities outside Insomnia would be under the foothold of Niflheim. Izunia also said that emperor Iedolas of Niflheim would require Lunafreya to marry Noctis. After discussing with his councils, Regis decided to go ahead with the treaty signing as it would bring the war to an end. However, this decision made some Kingsglaives felt betrayed as they had been fighting for the king but at the end of the day, he seemed to be only caring for Insomnia city.

Nyx who defied the captain's order in the previous war with Niflheim soldiers was re-assigned to guard duty. Meanwhile Crowe was given a mission to give a gift to Lunafreya. However, Lunafreya went to Insomnia with an ambassador three days before the signing ceremony so she did not get the chance to accept the gift. Nyx was now given a new assignment to become Lunafreya's guard. After receiving a very disappointing news, Libertus got frustrated and left Kingsglaive. 

During the night before the ceremony, General Glauca came and see Lunafreya, telling her that she had a role in the Niflheim's big plan. He kidnapped Lunafreya, but this act was soon found out by Nyx who persuaded King Regis to let Kingsglaive go on a mission to save Lunafreya.

So can Nyx and the Kingsglaive complete the mission? Can Lunafreya be saved? What was actually the plan of Niflheim's king and what was Lunafreya's role in this plan? Find them all in this interesting film of hero, sacrifice and cool special effects movie.

End of Brief Story Line

Watching this movie in the first 10-15 minutes, I had a tough time understanding the story line. I thought it was a little bit fast especially during the first war scenes. Problem was the characters were only introduced to us after the war scene ended, so I was not sure who was who. But after a while, when the character introduction was done, I finally could start to enjoy it.

The movie's story was actually quite good according to me. It has the element of twist & surprise, a story of sacrifices and love from a father to a child, and brother/sister relationship. It also had wild car chases & great monsters fighting scenes. Be reminded though that this movie was not the animation type of 2D cartoon or 3D ones like the movies from Pixar, Disney or Illumination. The persons in the film were life like but the lips moving were not exactly matching with the words that came out of their mouth. Perhaps because the original language was in Japanese?

Anyway, I think this movie is a rather special type movie that can probably be enjoyed only by the fans of Final Fantasy games. But if people would open their mind and watch it as a neutral, I believe it can also be enjoyed. Not too sure why people would hate this one (according to the critics website it had very low rating), but I personally enjoyed it. I especially loved the fighting finale which I felt was very awesome and satisfying. Before I forgot, if you keep sitting in the movie and wait for the post credit scene, you would be able to see a scene which would serve as the prologue to the Final Fantasy XV game.

The movie has played in the theater since last week and I do not think it will pass through next week as I even had to watch yesterday in a cinema where it only played once a day. So if you are still looking to watch it, then better do it before next Wednesday when new movie usually comes to the theaters.

Mike's movie moments rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Mechanic: Resurrection - Another Jason Statham Action Movie

Finally after 4 days in the head office outside Jakarta, I got the chance to entertain myself and forget a bit about the hectic condition at the office. A Jason Statham new movie that just premiered on Friday seemed to be the best bet for night entertainment. Lucky my wife was not having anything on her schedule that day so she was able to go to the mall and bought the tickets for the night (usually such film on first day premier would have its seats emptied very fast or the very least only left with non strategic places). Leaving office at 5.30 enabled me to reach the location early and could be in the theater in time to see several new trailers. Movie started around 5 minutes latter than the supposed time. So let's get on to the movie.

Brief Story Line

Movie opened with the scene of Arthur Bishop (Statham - The Transporter trilogy, Fast and Furious 7 and so many other action films) currently staying in a boat in Rio, Brazil after retiring as contract killer. However his retirement was cut short when a lady seemed to know about his past and stated that her employer would assign Bishop to make 3 killings & make them look like accidents just like what he normally did (these were the basic story of the original movie The Mechanic). The lady threatened Bishop to do as per her request otherwise her thugs would force him. After some fightings, Bishop was able to escape.

He went to Thailand and was met by Mei (Michelle Yeoh - Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, etc) who would later on described as someone that was helped by Bishop previously. She was keeping a safe house for Bishop. He would later find out that the messenger in Rio was working for Crain (Sam Hazeldine - The Monuments Men etc), his old friend who later became his nemesis.

On the beach the following day, through some ordeals, Bishop got to know Gina (Jessica Alba - Sin City, Fantastic Four etc) a social worker in Cambodia. They became quite close and romantically involved. When Crain finally assigned his men to capture Gina and Bishop unable to stop them, he had no choice but to go and see Crain to find out his intentions. As already mentioned in the beginning, he wanted Crain to kill 3 people and make sure they do not look like a murder. Crain threaten to kill Gina if Bishop did not fulfill these "assignments". The 3 persons were all located in difficult places to kill i.e. a warlord who was imprisoned in Malaysia's island prison, a guy who dealt with human trafficking of under age prostitutes & stayed in a 58th floor penthouse in Australia and an arms dealer who lived in a confined silo in East Europe.

So would Bishop be able to do all these killings? Would Crain honor his commitment to release Gina upon Bishop's final task? Or would Bishop go to Crain and help Gina escape? Find them in this action movie.

End of Brief Story Line

Well as far as action movie goes, this one is quite good. It has good fighting scenes involving the usual Statham fast moves and cool ways of killing bad guys. There were also some crazy stunts in the high areas like on moving cable train and some great under water actions. For such age, Statham was still able to provide those moves and then some.

In term of story line, I personally think it was not as good as the original movie. In case you were not aware, that one was a remake of 1972 movie of same title and if I remember correctly, the story was more superior than this sequel. I felt that this story was a little bit too forced, but then again, who really cares as long as Statham could still perform awesome fights scenes. This sequel also had a little aura of B class action movie, unlike the usual Statham's movies. 

Tommy Lee Jones was somehow quite good playing as a bad guy in this movie. My wife said the goatee & earrings were the perfect elements. But I am a little bit disappointed with Michelle Yeoh's role in this film as she rarely did anything and I think it's a waste of her talent (at least give her a little fighting scene for God's sake!). Jessica Alba's presence was surprisingly quite good according to my personal view, while Crain was a little bit unconvincing as Statham's nemesis.

My most memorable scenes was the finale fighting with so many bad guys. There were no fun scenes in this movie and a little bit too much focus on the romantic scenes between Statham and Alba in the earlier part. For those who want to just enjoy a good old fashion action movie, I believe this one suits you just nicely as long as you forget about the story line. For those enjoying heavier movies with great acting and so on, may not be able to enjoy it and probably would complain after watching this.

So it all depends on your taste. Happy watching!

Mike's movie moments rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

LIGHTS OUT - One Heck of Scary Movie!

I finally decided to watch this horror movie by myself, since I knew that my wife would never watch this one in theater in the dark. So Sunday evening while she was having her own food tasting program and after I dropped my mom to the airport for her trip out of town, I drove back home, parked my car, walked to the nearest mall and buy the ticket for 3.15 PM. I purposely bought the ticket for a seat at the back and hoping there would be people on my left and right side. But when the studio opened, I went inside and found out that those seats were still empty. So there I was, sitting by myself watching a movie of ghost in the dark. What have I gotten myself into???

Brief Story Line

Movie started with the scene of Paul (Billy Burke - The Twilight saga) having conversation through internet video with his son Martin (Gabriel Bateman - Annabelle) in the factory where he worked. It was mentioned that Martin's mother sometime spoke by herself. Paul's colleague Esther was closing down the factory and she noticed something that would only show when the lights were turn off. She felt scared and told Paul to be careful. After the usual scary scenes of a horror movie, we were introduced to Paul's stepdaughter Rebecca (Teresa Palmer - The Sorcerer's Apprentice, I am Number Four etc) and her "boyfriend" Bret (Alexander DiPersia). 

Scene moved to Paul's house at night where Martin was having trouble sleeping and heard his mother Sophie (Maria Bello - A History of Violence, Grown Ups etc) having conversation when there was actually no one else at their house. On the following morning, Martin who fell asleep for the 3rd time in a week was asked by the Child Protection Services to call his mother and pick him up. But she was not picking up the phone so Rebecca instead was called. Rebecca came together with Bret and dropped Martin back home where she would fight with her mother about their long separation since Sophie felt left alone and depressed when Rebecca went out of the house after her father left them. Rebecca told Martin to bring his stuff so he could stay at her house.

Later that night when Martin was staying at Rebecca's house, the spirit was coming there and appeared again only when the lights were out. After some scary scenes, on the day after, Rebecca realized she had to find out about the spirit. So she decided to go back to her mother's house with Bret and found some documents relating to that spirit. Due to her poking around, the spirit really felt disturbed and told Rebecca to stay away. After doing some digging, Rebecca finally realized why the spirit was haunting them.

However, can she help Martin and her mother get away from it? Can they all be saved if the spirit was not going to leave them alone? Find them all in this one heck of a scary movie.

End of Brief Story Line

I heard some comments about this movie being a very scary one, with people even comparing it as scarier than most horror movies such as The Conjuring. It happens that this movie was produced by James Wan who was the director of The Conjuring. So when I watched this movie, I was expecting that I would be feeling terrified during the whole movie. However it turned out that the scary moments were only occasionally shown. When the scenes move to the background story, the spooky nuance was not really there. Unlike other very scary movie where even the background story was having scary or moments.

But during the scary scenes, they indeed were truly scary, especially when the spirit only materialize whenever the lights were out. As the usual horror movie, we would never know when the scary moments would appear and especially in this movie, it happened only at night. The last 25 minutes or so during the so called finale of the movie, we would be shown many of those moments. My only confusion was the audience in the theater laughed few times during this final,e though I did not find it to be funny. Perhaps they were doing that to shake the scared feelings? Anyway, I had only a little disappointment that when the spirit was finally shown, it was not as scary as when we were still kept in the dark.

Overall, this movie was a good scary one. The sound effect was the best! It also had a surprise twist and possible sequel (from what I read in the internet). Those looking for such kind movie would be satisfied. But remember that this is not the possession kind of movie or the slasher type. The premise was something new and it was good that they could think of a new smart way of scaring people. Perhaps due to my very high worry of the movie being totally scary, I was able to enjoy the movie a bit better when I felt that it was not really that scary. My most memorable scene would definitely be the one in Martin's room with Rebecca during the few last moment before the ending.

So if you are ok to watch horror movie in theater and you are not worried of being scared turning off the lights after you watch this one, then be my guest and see this one while it is still playing in the theater.

Happy watching!

Mike's movie moments rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Trainwreck - A Romantic Drama Comedy with Sports Background

Once again I watched a movie on TV in the hotel where I was having vacation with my wife during her free 1 night stay. If I am not mistaken, this movie never played in Indonesian cinemas. I guess it was due to the movie having R rating there and it was not having the star fame power in here and it was also a drama comedy. Anyway, I was hoping to see another action movie that premiered at 8 PM but I was too late coming back to the hotel room so I instead watched this one that started at 9 PM. So what was the movie all about? Let's have a read below, shall we?

Brief Story Line

The movie started with the scene of young Amy and Kim being told by their father Gordon (Grown Ups, Grown Ups 2) that monogamy was not realistic and he was getting a divorce with their mother. This message seemed to be getting in the heads of young Amy until she became an adult and 23 years later became a woman who love to party, drink and even sleep with lots of guys. Amy (Amy Schumer - a famous US stand up comedian) now was working at a men's magazine and was given the assignment by her boss Dianna (Tilda Swinton - The Grand Budapest Hotel) to interview a sports doctor Aaron Conners (Bill Hader - Men In Black 3 and voice actors of Inside Out, Finding Dory). Despite her best effort to reject the assignment as she had no knowledge whatsoever on sports, Amy had no choice but to interview the doctor.

When she came for the interview, Aaron was amazed at how ignorant Amy of sports matter & stars. Even when LeBron James the very famous NBA player came to Aaron's office, Amy could not recognize him. In short, the interview seemed busted. Later on that night, Amy went to the movie with her boyfriend Steven, a person who seemed to be addictive of body building (played by WWE wrestling star John Cena - The Marine, 12 Rounds etc). Steven was very upset upon finding out that Amy had been sleeping around with other guys despite his assumption of having exclusive relationship.

Meanwhile, Amy found out that her sister Kim (Brie Larson - 21 Jump Street, Room etc) was pregnant with her husband who was a widow with 1 child named Allistair. The news was informed to Gordon who now stayed in a facility since he was having health problem. He was happy to found out he will be a grandfather but Kim who really detested her father because of him divorcing her mother, was very upset that he did not recognize Allistair as his grandson. Their relationship came to a new low and Kim insisted Amy that she would rather move Gordon to a much cheaper facility. Amy received this request while testing exercise equipment with Gordon and she was a little bit shocked which resulted to her having difficulty breathing. Aaron helped Amy and from that moment on, they became closer and started dating.

With this new odd relationship, Lebron who was Gordon's close friend was very happy for him as it had been quite some time since Gordon had a serious relationship with a woman. But Lebron also was cautious of Amy whether she was serious enough to Gordon or she would break his heart. Amy herself actually felt unsure about her feelings, especially since she never had a meaningful relationship with men.

So can this couple be together and defy the odds? Can Kim and Amy forgive their father for his decision of leaving their mother? Find them out in this romantic drama comedy with emphasis on the comedy.

End of Brief Story Line

As I said earlier, I watched this one as it was the only one that I could watch from beginning that night. But I did not regret watching the movie. It had some funny moments and I had few laughs as well. Please do not expect this one to be the type of romantic comedy such as those movies with Hugh Grant, Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan, Richard Gere as stars. Since the main stars were actually stand up comedian in US, the movies had some funny one liner during their conversations.

The movie also had few cameo appearances by sports stars in addition to Lebron James, such as Chris Evert and others. Also cameos by Matthew Broderick, Daniel Radcliffe and Marisa Tomei. I enjoyed watching Amy's confusion of having actual romantic feeling towards Aaron and also Aaron's oddly romantic strong feeling towards Amy who was not really his type. Amy's work relationship & problem with her boss and co-workers in the magazine also interesting to see. My most memorable moment was actually the scene where Amy was exercising at Aaron's facility coz I laughed the hardest there. And there were also some touching scenes involving Amy, Kim and her father.

Oooh I did not quite enjoy the ending as I think it was a little bit too cheesy for resolving their problem. Overall though, the movie was actually quite fun to see. I know that the movie was still playing in HBO Asia this week and probably few weeks later. However, some people may not be able to relate to this kind of movie and humor. Nevertheless if you are looking for this type of movie, then you can definitely try to watch this one and hopefully you have fun like I did.

Happy watching!

Mike's movie moments rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Our Kind of Traitor - Not the Average Spy Movie

On the Independence Day holiday, my wife and I were having fun time of Pokémon hunting in Grand Indonesia mall. I believe those reading my post here would know the hype this game was creating in the world and would be able to appreciate our love for the game. Since we have the day to ourselves, we also decided to watch a new movie playing in the theater in that mall. We chose this one, since the other movies were either a sequel to a movie that I had not watched before, a horror movie that my wife would not want to watch in cinema, and a cartoon movie which we might watch on another occasion. So what was the premise of this movie? I would try my best to leave out important details of the movie to avoid spoiler. But as usual, if there is a worry of such thing, you can pass the brief story line below.

Brief Story Line

Movie started with a scene of documents signing in Moscow between the Russian mob leader called the "prince" and the mob member. We would later find out that the signing is related to an opening of a Bank in England which would be used for laundering Russian mob's dirty money. Subsequent to these events, scene moved to Morocco where Perry (Ewan McGregor - Star Wars episode 1-3, Mortdecai etc) was having dinner with his wife Gail (Naomie Harris - Pirates of the Carribean, Skyfall etc) in the hotel restaurant. Gail had to leave the dinner early as she was having work to handle but Perry seemed to had problem accepting it. In the same restaurant, there were some Russian guys having lots of fun and the "leader" named Dima (Stellan Skarsgård - The Girl with Dragon Tattoo, Thor etc) called Perry to join them which he accepted.

Dima and Perry seemed to hit it off and they went to a Russian party in another location. Dima asked Perry to play tennis on the following day and Gail was introduced after the tennis match to Dima and his large family with his wife, a daughter (Natasha) and 2 sons plus 2 twin girls. He requested Perry and Gail's presence to Natasha's birthday party later that night. Despite Gail's objection since it would be their last night in Morocco, Perry accepted the invitation. During this party, Perry was requested by Dima to pass a flash disc to MI6 when he returned to London. Perry somehow seemed unable to reject Dima's request.

When Perry and Gail reached London, Perry did pass the flash disc and was questioned by MI6 personnels consisted of Hector (Damian Lewis - Homeland TV series) and Luke (Khalid Abdalla). Gail was surprised about this and was very mad with Perry. It was found out later that the disc contain some Russian mob data about the possible bribes to certain British parliament members to approve the plan for opening of the new bank. Hector requested the operation to catch these people by agreeing to the terms demanded by Dima to his superior Billy Matlock (Mark Gatiss - Sherlock TV series). However, the request was denied since it involved Aubrey Longrigg (Jeremy Northam) who was a very senior politician. So Hector decided to go ahead with the operation by himself and aided by Luke and another operative.

Hector convinced Perry and Gail to meet up with Dima in France so as to acquire the complete information for him to build up the case. The meet up was becoming complicated since the "prince" assistant, Emilion was a little bit suspicious of such coincidence and assigned his thug Niki to try and investigate. In addition to the suspicion from the prince, Dima was not willing to give the complete information until all his family members could be brought to safety in England.

So can Perry and Gail complete their "assignments" being accidental spies? Can Hector convince his superiors and the British governments to approve the asylum request from Dima? What would happen to the prince and the bank he intended to open with the help from British corrupt officials? Find them all in this different kind of spy movie.

End of Brief Story Line

I have to admit that I was having a little bit doubt watching this movie as I never saw the trailer before and I was not sure if this would be a good one or not. My wife and I saw this one on the basis that the rating was high in 1 of the famous movie critics website plus Ewan McGregor's movies are usually quite interesting. 

The movie was moving at a very slow pace but the story and the curiosity of what would happen next was the one making it intriguing. Please do not expect the cool gadgets, lots of fighting and car chases cause this is not that kind of movie. As I said above, this is a spy thriller so not your average spy action movie. It involved lots of dramatic moments and great characterization.

By the way, the movie was having some scenes that were censored by Indonesian censorship board. Though they were most likely scenes that would not have major impact on the story line, they do tend be a little bit disturbing. Therefore it would not be a good idea to bring children to watch this movie.

My most memorable moment would be the surprise ending which provided some good closure for us audience. Even though the movie was considered a good one, but for me the pace could do a little bit faster. But overall the story was indeed good and it was adapted from a novel by the same name written by John le Carré.

For those of you expecting to see those full action movies, you would not be satisfied with this one. But those that are looking for a thriller drama movie, then this one would likely be a good entertainment.

Happy watching!

Mike's movie moments rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Standoff - A Cat & Mouse Psychological Thriller

I watched this movie while I was spending the night in a hotel during the 1st weekend of August 2016, when my wife was given free 1 night stay at that hotel (as I kept on saying earlier to her, this was definitely 1 of the perks of being husband of a foodblogger LOL). Anyway, this movie was playing in 1 of the cable TV channel in the evening, so it was not the usual premier of a new movie. Since it was the only one that I have not watched before, I chose to spend the next 1.5 hour watching it. In fact, funny thing is I am writing this review in another hotel where we are staying this weekend. What lucky life! Thanks to @yennymakanmulu ...

Brief Story Line

The movie started with a scene where a young girl named Isabelle (Ella Ballentine) was visiting her parents' grave where she took some pictures of the surrounding. There was a lady who was attending funeral in the graveyard and suddenly, a hitman named Sade (Laurence Fishburne - The Matrix trilogy etc) came and started shooting on the lady and her bodyguard. Isabella (who preferred to be called Bird) was hiding in the shadow and took all the pictures while Sade was killing and trying to bury the corpses.

Roger, Bird's aunt's boyfriend came from the car where he was waiting to see why she was taking so long. Sade realized that the girl could be a witness, especially when he saw Bird holding camera. So he killed Roger and tried to capture Bird. Bird ran so fast while being chased by Sade to the nearest house which was occupied by a guy who seemed to be a drunk. The man who was living alone in that house opened the door and was shot in the leg by Sade.

He immediately closed the door and brought Bird inside. He took a shotgun and barricade themselves on the 2nd floor hiding behind a room nearby the stairs. This was the best place with good vantage point to shoot if Sade decided to go up the stairs. Sade realized that he did not have the best option at that moment to go upstairs and kill the man who later on would be revealed as Carter Green (Thomas Jane - Deep Blue Sea, The Punisher etc). It was unfortunate for Carter that his handphone was left downstairs and he had only 1 bullet left in his shotgun. So Sade would start psychological warfare against Carter by doing all he could from threatening, reasoning including trapping him.

Meanwhile, one of the sheriffs was circling around the area and noticed few cars seemed to be abandoned near the graveyard. He stopped by and started to look around and was thinking of going by Carter's house and see if there is anything happening, since it was the nearest house in the neighborhood.

So what would happen to Carter and Bird who were trapped on 2nd floor? Can the sheriff make it on time to help them? Or would Sade be able to fish Carter out, kill Bird and ultimately took the camera with proof of his killing? You can find all the answers by watching it till finished.

End of Brief Story Line

This movie was not so bad as a psychological thriller. As such, there would be not a lot of actions or special effects. The psychological war between Sade and Carter was quite entertaining to see. For a while you could feel the tense scenes where Sade used all his wits to fish Carter out till the very end. However there were not a lot of those scenes.

As the movie progressed, the relationship between Carter and Bird was quite touching as well. I think Ella Ballentine performance as young orphan child who found protection in the form of Carter, the military griefing man was also quite good.

I personally had a so so moment watching this movie. It did not leave me a lot of impression, but it did give me something nice to enjoy for 1.5 hours before I ultimately fell asleep after it was finished. So if you are looking for some time to kill and want to enjoy Laurence Fishburne & Thomas Jane doing a cat & mouse game and fight each other, then you can watch this movie while it is still playing in Fox Movies Premium.

Mike's movie moments rating: 3 out of 5 stars

The Shallows - Shark Attack Movie

This was 1 movie that did not get a lot of publicity. Unlike the other summer blockbuster movies with budget so large, this one only had a mere USD 17 million (though when converted to Indonesian Rupiah, it became a huge amount). From what I checked in some websites, it had already acquired income around 4 times its budget. So I guess people really loved to see this one. I was also quite fortunate to be able to see this movie on its premiere date in Indonesia, since my wife was having food tasting in the mall nearby my office and she was able to buy the tickets for us for 7 PM show. Anyway, what was the movie all about? Below is the very short version of the story.

Brief Story Line

Movie started with a kid playing football by himself on the beach and found a stranded helmet with a camera attached to it. He naturally opened the camera and watched some video of people surfing in the ocean nearby with the surprise ending. Scene moved to Nancy (Blake Lively - The Age of Adaline, Gossip Girls TV series, etc) was having a conversation with Carlos (Óscar Jaenada) in his car where they were headed towards some sort of secret beach. She was going to surf there. In this scene we would be shown that Nancy was supposed to go to surf with her friend but she could not make it. 

Once they reached the location, Carlos left Nancy there to do the surfing and remind her not to surf at night. There were also 2 more guys who were surfing. Then there would be some great scenes of the ocean and Nancy surfing for a while with those surfers. After taking a break, she went back to the beach and having short conversation with her younger sister and her father (played by Brett Cullen), where we would know a little bit more about Nancy's background. She later went back to the ocean and getting ready for surfing again while the other 2 surfers returning to the beach.

While Nancy enjoying the ocean by herself, she realized there was a dead whale floating nearby. Perhaps feeling uneasy she later tried to go back to the beach. However, a great white shark was following her and knocked her off. She fell and injured herself on the reef and got bitten as well by the shark. Threatened with the shark who already smelled blood, Nancy decided to swim to the nearest reef and get on top of it. Being a medical student, Nancy had to try healing her leg. Even though the reef was not too far from the beach, but she was unable to call for help since the 2 other surfers have gone back with their car. She was now practically stranded on this reef only "accompanied" by a seagull who was injured too with the shark circling around waiting for Nancy to come down. 

So can Nancy survived this nightmare? What was the reason this shark can be violent? Was there going to be other casualties? Find them all in this entertaining movie.

End of Brief Story Line

This movie was really exciting. Without having so much special effects, we would still be having the terrifying experience of watching the shark in close range. The sound effect was good, adding the tension effect, especially during the chasing scenes. The surfing scenes, the ocean and the beach scenes were also very beautiful. 

Despite the movie practically only having Nancy as the main character, it did not feel boring. Instead we could feel the frustration, the sadness, the strength and the survival instinct of her. It was great to see also a person's transformation from feeling helpless to having nothing to lose and do crazy stunts. 

I also believe that people who love beaches would enjoy watching this movie as I said earlier, the beach was actually very beautiful with white sand and very clean. Water was very clear from what we saw when the ocean was shown from above.

My most memorable scene would be the ending. Since it would be giving the spoiler, I would rather let you watch it by yourself.

So if you are interested in having yourself terrified of seeing shark chase with those big scary teeth, then this movie is definitely for you. I did not have the opportunity to watch the great shark movie long time ago (JAWS from 1975), which was a major success at that time and did scare a lot of people to go to the beach. So this one can definitely give you a fresh take in white shark attack. It's not as bloody as Jaws did, but it definitely gave the same impact on me and my wife (who was screaming most of the time the shark was shown. LOL).

Have fun and be terrified watching!

Mike's movie moments rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Suicide Squad - The Anti Heroes of DC Comics

This movie has been buzzing in the media for quite some time and I have known since past few months that it would be premiering in August 2016. I was really intrigued to see how the movie would be. However, when the trailer finally shown before the start of few movies I watched in the past weeks, it was probably not what I was hoping for. Even my wife was thinking that the film looked like a B class movie. Anyway, I still wanted to watch this as early as the premiere date but I was only able to do it after it played for 2 days. So was the movie really not good or it was actually entertaining? Maybe the next few paragraphs can help shed some light.

Brief Story Line

After the events from Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice (BVS), the US government & military leaders were worried and was looking for answers towards the threat that Superman or other super men may posed in future. Amanda Waller (Viola Davis - Ender's Game, Blackhat, How to Get Away with Murder TV series etc) a government official wanted to create a task force consisted of the worst kind of bad guys whom she could control and provide the protections they required. She offered this idea to the government by showing the data of the most dangerous bad guys. 

First in the file was Floyd Lawton aka Deadshot (Will Smith - Hancock, Men in Black, Focus etc) who was an expert in weapons and also assassin for hire. He was notorious for never ever missed a shot. He was captured only because Waller provided a tip on his whereabouts in Gotham city. Next was Dr. Harleen Quinzel aka Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie - The Wolf of Wallstreet, Focus, Legend of Tarzan ec) who was a former psychiatrist in Arkham Asylum where she fell in love with The Joker (Jared Leto - Panic Room, Dallas Buyers Club etc). She became a psychotic person and could do lots of damage without remorse.

The rest of them consisted of Digger Harkness aka Captain Boomerang (Jai Courtney - Divergent, A Good day to Die Hard, Terminator Genisys etc) who was a thief and used boomerangs as his weapon, El Diablo (Jay Hernandez - Hostel, Quarantine etc) who could throw fire from his hands, Killer Croc (Adewale Akinnuoye Agbaje - Pompeii, Annie etc) who had skin condition like a reptile and could breath in the water and finally Dr. June Moore (Cara Delevingne - Paper Towns, Pan etc) who could summon an ancient witch called Enchantress who had the power of teleportation and dark magic.

All of these bad guys were in prison and Waller committed to the military leaders she would be able to control all of them under the lead of Col. Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman - Robocop, Run All Night etc). Waller also convinced them that these people were all expendables. If they were unsuccessful, they could be terminated instantly. After some convincing action, finally the task force was given the go ahead. In order to ensure they would be willing to work under Waller and Flag, they were all promised reduction of jail time. 

Meanwhile in Midway City, a very powerful force had taken control of the city and it was protected by a lot of monsters. The task force who sort of called themselves Suicide Squad were assigned to do their first "assignment" which was to free Midway City and also to gather a "package" from there. They were joined by additional member Katana (Karen Fukuhara) who was very expert in using sword and she was like a protector of Flag. Things also got more complicated when Joker tried to break Quinn from the clutches of Waller during this assignment.

So would the squad really be willing to do their assignment? And if yes, could they complete it without hurting anyone else or even their own friends? Could Joker get Quinn free? And what was actually happening in Midway City? Find them all in this interesting take of the anti heroes trying to save the day.

End of Brief Story Line

After watching the 2 hours movie, I felt that it was having a lighter tone than BVS. There were quite frequent funny moments usually involving Quinn and few crack jokes by Deadshot. There were even some few humorous 1 liner from the rest of the cast. The action sequences were quite amazing. I think the most enjoyable character to see was Quinn who was having like a sick relationship with Joker and a real psychopath. My most memorable scene was when Deadshot shooting at so many monsters in Midway city.

There were quite a lot background music playing in this movie and the special effects were quite good as well. One thing that I could not understand was I thought the sound effects were not exceptional. I watched in a theater with 11.1 sound system so I should be having a full blown sound effects but instead I felt it was sub standard. Perhaps I should see in Dolby Atmos? Anyway, for those who are not too fussy like me on this aspect, should not be too bothered.

This movie may not be too suitable for kids as the main characters were actually bad guys who were forced to do good. In fact, if it were not for the scenes where we were able to laugh, I feel that this movie was actually a bit dark. Compared to BVS though, I feel the finale was not as spectacular. However, in terms of DC cinematic universe, I think this film serves as a good bridge till the next movies coming in the near future such as Justice League, Wonder Woman and so on. 

If you are looking for different kind of super "heroes" movies, this is definitely one you should see. Oooh, don't forget that this is not a Marvel movie, so there is no end credit scene which you have to wait till very end. There is however a mid credit scene which you do not want to miss.

Happy watching!

Mike's movie moments rating: 4 out 5 stars

Jason Bourne - Bourne Back at His Best

The second movie of our second movie marathon day yesterday was this action packed film. I was a fan of the Bourne series which I think was quite exceptional for an old fashion action movies with short hand combat, gun shooting and wild car chases. After the 3 original series where Matt Damon starred, the 4th installment was having a different star to play, i.e. Jeremy Renner (The Bourne Legacy). In this 5th one, Matt Dammon reprised his role as the former CIA assassin. So what was the story all about now? Let's get on with it, shall we?

Brief Story Line

After years of the event from The Bourne Ultimatum, Jason Bourne (Matt Damon - Elysium, The Martian etc)  was now hiding in the dark in Greece and became a street fighter to get money for survival. He never seemed to lost his touch though. Meanwhile Nicky Parsons (Julia Stiles - 10 Things I Hate about You, Monalisa Smiles, etc) the former CIA operative hacked into CIA server from Iceland to access some of the old CIA data from previous Black Ops. Her intention was to exposed what she believed as CIA's wrongdoings in the past. If you have watched the previous Bourne movies, perhaps you would be familiar with the names of the operations, i.e Treadstone (where Bourne was recruited) and Blackbriar which was the follow up to Treadstone and exposed earlier. A new operation code after Blackbriar was Ironhand. 

While looking into Treadstone files, Nicky noticed that Bourne (previously David Webb) had been under surveillance even before recruited and that his father Richard Webb (Gregg Henry - Guardians of the Galaxy) might have some part in the program. The hacking was found out by the CIA cyber ops head Heather Lee (Alicia Vikander - Seventh Son, The Man from U.N.C.L.E) and her director Robert Dewey (Tommy Lee Jones - Men In Black etc). Nicky escaped from Iceland and arrange to meet with Bourne in Greece to inform him about her findings. During a big demonstration in Athens, where they were supposed to meet, Heather, Dewey and the rest of the CIA team already setup teams in place to capture them. After very tense scenes of running on foot plus car and motor cycle chase involving Dewey's "thug" called the Asset (Vincent Cassel - Ocean's Twelve, Ocean's Thirteen etc), finally Bourne escaped to Berlin.

Bourne was able to decrypt the data she got from Nicky and started to get flashbacks of the last day he met with his father. Based on this data, he would look for Smith who was the operative involved in Treadstone program. He had retired and lived in London now, so Bourne went to London after escaping another attempt of his capture by CIA.

In the CIA headquarters, Heather recommended to Russel, Director of National Intelligence that Jason Bourne might still be useful and she believed he can be brought back to work for CIA, despite the disapproval of Dewey. Russel agreed to this suggestion and gave Heather the lead for the operation to convince Bourne. If she was unsuccessful, the Asset would kill Bourne. 

So can Bourne be convinced to return to CIA? What was the history of Bourne that he was trying to find out? And why does Dewey insisted on killing him? What was Ironhand project and its relation with Deep Dream application? Find them all in this exciting, over the top action 2 hours movie

End of Brief Story Line

Wow, this movie I think was the best in the 5 installments of Bourne series. The movie was fast paced, full of intense scenes and the action sequence were just crazy. The special effects of the action scenes in the end were great and it would definitely strap you to your seats. Even my wife could not let herself go to toilet as she was worried she might miss important scenes.

The sound effect were outstanding. All the bullets flying around and those amazing car & motor chases sounds were amazing. The background music was also very good and definitely added the element of tense. In almost every scenes, there would be the feeling of rush which I think was due to the music.

For those of you who had not seen any of Bourne movies, might be feeling a little bit loss of what the story is. But if you do not want to spend hours to watch the previous 4 films, and if you do not mind a little bit of confusion in the beginning part, then maybe you can still enjoy the movie. 

As an action movie fan, I totally feel this is a top quality one. This is a highly recommended movie. Ooh and if you happen to really buy tickets to see this, I suggest you try to have seats at around the back. There were a lot of scenes where the cameras were not standing still and following the actions around which I think would be better seen from further up rather than from middle seats.

If they really are making another sequel to this one (yes, the ending did give impression that they can still make it), I would definitely be watching it.

Mike's movie moments rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Ice Age: Collision Course - The Fifth Installment of Ice Age Franchise

Well it has been a rather crazy weekend as my wife and I went for a second movie marathon day in a row on Sunday. But instead of 3 movies like on Saturday, we only watched 2 movies yesterday. First one that we watched was an animated movie which we were hoping would give us tons of laughs like we had in previous Ice Age movies.

Brief Story Line

Unlike the Disney/Pixar movies, there was no short animated movie prior to the start of this film. So it immediately started with Scrat our favorite squirrel who was still obsessed with his acorn and while he was trying to bury it on the ice surface, dropped to a place where there was a space ship (yes you read it right, a space ship). While still trying to get the acorn, Scrat accidentally activated the space ship and went flying out of space. Due to these actions, the space ship had made all the planets revolving around the sun and also made a huge asteroid attracted to earth.

Meanwhile on earth, Manny the mammoth (Ray Romano - Everybody Loves Raymond TV series) was worried with his daughter Peaches (Keke Palmer) growing up and going to marry Julian (Adam Devine - Pitch Perfect). He believed that Julian was not good enough for Peaches. His wife Ellie (Queen Latifah - Valentine's Day, 22 Jump Street etc) encouraged Manny to get to know Julian better. Diego the tiger (Denis Leary - The Amazing Spiderman) and Sid the sloth (John Lequizamo - Carlito's Way, Chef etc) also share the same thought. 

During the night celebrating the anniversary of Manny and Ellie, there were so many lights in the sky and finally they realized there was a meteor shower coming to earth. The party was cut short, despite Manny still quarelling with Peaches as she was going to leave for adventure after marrying Julian. All of the herd, including Shira the female tiger (Jennifer Lopez - so many movies), Granny Sid's grandmother (Wanda Sykes - Evan Almighty)  and Crash & Eddie (Sean William Scott - American Pie series) hid inside a cave until the meteor shower cleared.

On the other side of the continent, a place where some dinosaurs still existed, Buck the one eyed weasel (Simon Pegg - Shaun of the Dead, Star Trek etc) had taken away an egg from 3 dinosaurs who stole it and made them offended. Buck escaped from the 3 of them and found his way to Manny and the herd. He told Manny that there was a reason for the huge asteroid coming to earth which would wipe out the earth and literally kill the entire civilization. So Buck with the help from Manny and his friends would go on a journey to save the world while being chased by the 3 dinosaurs.

So can Buck, Manny, Sid, Diego and the rest of the herd really save the world? Can they escape from the 3 dinosaurs who wanted to prevent it from happening? What was the real reason for the asteroid coming to earth? And what would Scrat's role be in this? Find them all in their adventures.

End of Brief Story Line

After watching this movie, I felt that it was not as fun and hilarious as the previous installments. I thought some of the scenes were not funny enough. At first I thought my wife enjoyed it so much coz she laughed quite a lot. But apparently she told me she had the same feeling as I did. For me the story was felt to be too forced. The Scrat's scenes were also too much and made the story line became uncharacteristically not funny. In previous installments, Scrat had always been only in very minor role and usually did not have major impact. But in this movie I personally felt it was just too much and reached the point of no longer funny.

Of course there were some good as well in this movie, like the great visual animation, and there was a scene with Bucky which I believed would have been very cool in 3D (we watched in the normal 2D). Some kids may also enjoy the fun of the chase and the colorful pictures, but as the story continued, I think even those kids grew tired and they did not laugh as hard as in the beginning. There was also a character voiced by Jessie J and of course she sang a song as well in the end credit scene. 

Bottom line, I was a little bit disappointed with this one and perhaps it would not be a good idea for them to make a 6th installment. Unless if they wanted to get back to basics like in the 1st one which was very good according to me (the one where only Manny, Sid and Diego helping to return a toddler to human family).

Anyway, if you are interested in bringing your children to watch this movie, I think still quite ok. But if you plan to watch this without them, perhaps it's better if you watch other movies.

Mike's Movie Moments rating: 3 out of 5 stars